Topic: Preventive Medicine

The medical discipline of preventive medicine covers the gamut of measures, individual and societal, that can reduce the occurrence of illness and injury.

Physicians who practice in preventive medicine may be infectious disease specialists, community health specialists, and occupational health specialists. Preventive medicine is also a mainstay of most other medical specialties, notably family practice, internal medicine, and pediatrics.

This section presents an overview discussion of preventive medicine concepts and entries about preventive health measures and the public health dimensions of illness and injury.

HIV / AIDS Prevention HIV / AIDS Prevention – researchers first detected the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) in the early 1980s. New hiv/aids infections peaked about a decade later and have since slowly but steadily declined to reach a point over the past decade of holding relatively steady in the United States at about […]

Indoor Air Quality Information Indoor Air Quality – the average American spends 20 hours or more of each day in various indoor environments such as work, school, and home. Because the air they breathe recirculates, it accumulates pollutants. Indoor air may contain two to five times as much pollution as outdoor air. Health experts believe this […]

The Preventive Medicine – Introduction The medical discipline of preventive medicine covers the gamut of measures, individual and societal, that can reduce the occurrence of illness and injury. Physicians who practice in preventive medicine may be infectious disease specialists, community health specialists, and occupational health specialists. Preventive medicine is also a mainstay of most other […]

Influenza Prevention – Information Influenza Prevention – influenza, commonly called the flu, is an upper respiratory infection that causes epidemics (widespread outbreaks of disease) every year. In the United States each year about 20 percent of the population becomes ill with influenza (about 60 million people), and 30,000 to 40,000 people die as a result. Occasionally influenza occurs […]

Community Sanitation Definition Community Sanitation – some of the most farreaching improvements in public health have arisen not from laboratory experiments or technological discoveries but rather from the mundane aspects of everyday life. Community health drinking water standards, sewage treatment and disposal, and garbage collection and disposal influence health and life expectancy as much as […]

Life Expectancy – Information Life Expectancy – a statistical calculation representing how many years a person might expect to live. Simple life expectancy calculates projected years of life from birth. Age-adjusted life expectancy projects how many more years a person of a certain age might expect to live. It is important to remember that such calculations […]

Lifestyle and Health – Information Lifestyle and Health – many aspects of lifestyle influence health. Among the most significant are Cigarette smoking and other tobacco use Diet and nutrition Physical activity and exercise Occupational health risks Weight loss and weight management and obesity Seat belt and helmet use Safer sex practices The correlations between lifestyle […]

Environmental Cigarette Smoke Definition Environmental Cigarette Smoke – people who do not smoke but who live or work among people who smoke in their presence are at risk for the same health conditions that affect smokers, including lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (copd), emphysema, cardiovascular disease (cvd), and chronic bronchitis. Children who regularly breathe […]

Definition of Neural Tube Defects Neural Tube Defects – birth defects in which the neural tube, the precursor to the spinal cord and brain, fails to develop properly. The neural tube develops in the first few weeks of gestational life and may be complete by the time a woman knows she is pregnant. An open neural tube […]